Gov. Gavin Newsom put his signature Thursday on a sweeping package of more than a dozen bills aimed at shielding children from the darker corners of the internet, including one of the most closely watched measures of the legislative session: a law forcing social media companies to dial back the addictive design features built into their platforms.
The centerpiece of the package, Assembly Bill 1709, tells tech companies they have a choice when it comes to users under 16 — either strip out features designed to keep people scrolling, such as infinite feeds and autoplay video, or bar those younger users from the platform altogether.
Newsom framed the law as a direct challenge to the engineering behind social media addiction rather than simply another content restriction.
“This is about the features themselves — the scrolling, the algorithms,” Newsom said. “This is about addressing the substantive issue around the engineering.”
Not everyone welcomed the move. Digital rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, had lobbied Newsom to veto the bill. While acknowledging the good intentions behind it, the organization warned that cutting off younger users from certain platform features could also cut them off from valuable information and online experiences.
Alongside AB 1709, Newsom signed what’s known as Adam’s Law, a measure regulating how artificial intelligence chatbots interact with minors. The law sets time limits on how long kids can engage with AI chatbots and requires companies to build in mental health resources within those tools. It also mandates that chatbot operators develop safety protocols — so that if a bot detects warning signs of self-harm, parents must be notified.
The law is named for Adam Raine, a California teenager who died by suicide in 2025 after what his family said was a troubling series of exchanges with the popular chatbot ChatGPT, which they say offered him guidance related to his death.
Newsom’s broader child-safety package also included legislation making social media companies legally liable for harm inflicted on children through their platforms, an overhaul of age-verification requirements for apps, and a four-year moratorium on AI-equipped chatbot toys marketed to kids.
Whether the new laws will translate into real protection for children remains an open question. Experts note that preventing tragedies like Raine’s death will hinge largely on how aggressively regulators and attorneys pursue enforcement once the laws take effect.
MATH SCREENING BILL AWAITS NEWSOM’S SIGNATURE
Still sitting on the governor’s desk is a separate measure that would require California’s youngest students to be screened for basic math skills, part of a broader push to address stagnant math performance across the state.
California’s math scores have struggled since the pandemic and now trail the national average by a wide margin. Only 37% of the state’s students met grade-level math standards last year, according to recent test results.
The proposed screening would apply to kindergartners along with first- and second-graders, testing straightforward skills such as number ordering and basic comparisons. Students found to be behind would be connected with additional tutoring support.
The California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union, has come out against the bill, arguing it would add unnecessary stress for young children without meaningfully improving outcomes. The union instead wants the state to invest more heavily in training teachers to strengthen math instruction in the classroom.
GENDER GAP EMERGES AMONG LATINO VOTERS ON IMMIGRATION
A new study from the UCLA Latino Politics and Policy Center and the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies has found a notable gender divide among Latino voters when it comes to immigration enforcement, opposition to the Trump administration, and the importance placed on defending democratic institutions.
Researchers surveyed roughly 1,900 registered Latino voters about how important those three issues were to their choice in the race for California governor. Across every measure, Latinas were consistently more likely than Latino men to call the issues “very important.”
The divide was most pronounced among younger, non-college-educated and predominantly English-speaking voters. On the question of protecting immigrant communities, 17% more Latinas than Latinos rated the issue as very important. That gap widened to 22% among working-class voters and to 28% among those under 30.
Cristina Mora, co-director of the Berkeley IGS and one of the study’s authors, said the findings reflect a generation grappling with identity and connection to the immigrant experience.
“They’re thoroughly American, and they are trying to understand immigration and the question of whether (they) should have this link or commonality and natural empathy for the immigrant,” Mora said.
PAROLE BOARD SHAKEUP FOLLOWS PUBLIC BACKLASH
State Senate leader Monique Limón effectively pushed out two members of California’s Board of Parole Hearings in June after their votes in two Sacramento-area cases sparked public outrage. Both commissioners had years of experience on the board when they separately voted to release two men serving life sentences for sexual crimes against children committed in the 1990s. The removals highlight the political pressure surrounding parole decisions involving high-profile or emotionally charged cases.
Original source: CalMatters
